Honestly, I don’t think this question has a right or wrong answer.This topic is highly debatable amongst scientists, environmentalists, and the healthy living community, but whichever you decide, you are supporting healthy growing practices.

Organic Farming

Organic farming practices don’t use pesticides, chemicals, hormones, antibiotics, or GMO (genetically modified material) to grow food or raise animals. It is a little more expensive, but if you plan accordingly, you can fit it into your budget (more on that in a future post).

Sounds perfect right?

Not so fast. Some of the largest organic farms in the United States are located in California which is about 3,000 miles away from my current location. In order for that food to get from California to my local , valuable resources are lost.

In reality, many of the organic foods that we buy here in the United States are imported from other countries. That takes a hell of a lot more resources to transport than from a neighboring state or town.

However, I still believe that it is important to support organic farming practices because they support fresh, natural food that is created the way nature intended.

Local Farming

Local food may or may not be organically grown, but it is produced by a neighboring farmer, which cuts down on the resources required in order to deliver it from the farm to the consumer.

This is when things get tough for me…

I know most of the farmers at the local farmers market.

I know the process of being certified organic and I know that it is an expensive and complicated process.

I know that a lot of the farmers do use organic farming practices, but they cannot afford to be certified as organic.

I will buy from these farmers every time.

The benefit of buying local means that you are shortening the time and the resources used from harvest to dinner plate.

If you have the opportunity to talk to the farmer and you are comfortable with his/her farming practices, I recommend that you buy local. If you don’t have this option, buying organic food is perfectly acceptable and I highly recommend it.

To be honest, I cannot recall a day within the last month that I did not have some form of roasted vegetables. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, brocolli, ASPARAGUS…

I eat them all. And I eat them often

Normally, I roast my vegetables the simplest way possible: salt, pepper, and olive oil. The process of roasting them brings out so much flavor that they do not need anything else to taste delicious. It also heats up the apartment on those cold winter nights…

However, while cleaning out my pantry the other day, I discovered a bottle of balsamic vinegar that I did not know even existed within the depths of my expired food. Once I found it (and it was not expired), I knew that I somehow wanted to incorporate it into dinner.

Remember how one of mygoals for 2011is to incorporate new ingredients?

I am sticking to it!

By adding just a few extra ingredients, the flavor is brought to a whole new level.

Balsamic Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients

1 pound asparagus, ends snapped

1 TBS olive oil

1 TBS balsamic vinegar

1 TBS lemon juice

Salt and pepper, to taste

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°.

Place the asparagus on a greased roasting pan.

Drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice, and vinegar.

Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic.

Toss to coat evenly.

Bake at 400° for 10-15 minutes minutes, turning once half way through.

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